(first posted 5/21/2017) It is no secret that pickup trucks of today have deviated from their humble, utilitarian roots. Most modern pickups feature a smooth ride, four doors and all the expected luxury features of a sedan or SUV. But what if automakers had hopped on the the luxury truck bandwagon back in the 1950s? Here are a few examples of what could have been.
The Imperial at the top seems rather improbable but perhaps Studebaker and Packard could have thrown together some left over pieces in a bid to explore new market niches.
I could see a market for Buick truck. Equipped with a straight eight under the hood it would have made for quite a gentleman’s hot rod.
The cab over engine model is perhaps a bit much however.
The Cadillac grill fits quite naturally on this 1957 Chevrolet truck.
Nash was not really a luxury nameplate but they could have got into the truck game as well.
A Chrysler truck with soon to be trendy quad headlamp configuration.
We cannot leave out fans of Ford Motor Company products. This Lincoln-ized pickup loads up on the chrome.
Any other fifties trucks you could imagine with a few extra luxury trimmings?
These are beautiful. I’m not a truck guy, but I like that Cadillac. I’d take mine in dark green.
+1! A real cowboy Cadillac!
Dear David, Thanks for finding these custom jobs and sharing them. This is cool stuff. When you have more of these, please share them.
They’re not really custom trucks – it’s just some photoshopping. You can tell by the way the images have rough edges around some bits and smooth edges in other places. Pretty much Photoshop 101.
Yes – I used Paint.Net which is a much more simple program but the idea is the same.
I should have been more clear. I altered various photos to add car grills to truck bodies digitally.
I believe that the Ford Ranchero and Chevy El Camino were an attempt to market a luxury “truck”
Ford’s tag line for the Ranchero was “More then a car! More then a truck!” In the case of the early Rancheros, it was said that it actually had a slightly higher cargo carrying capacity then the half ton F-Series. You also could get all the “toys” that upscale Fords could get.
I don’t know what the government classified these vehicles back then but in the 1980’s the El Camino was considered a pickup truck by the EPA for fuel purposes
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/Find.do?action=sbs&id=27328
Actually the Chevrolet Cameo was the first attempt to make trucks less truck like.
There had been a number of previous attempts to soften light trucks. They didn’t sell.
The Cadillac is definitely my favorite
The Chevy Cameo was Detroit’s first attempt at a luxury truck and offered from 1955-58. Sold at a 25% premium over the base Chevy pickup and never sold that well. At the time trucks were still considered work/farm utilitarian vehicles and the public never warmed to it.
And Dodge’s response with the ’57 Sweptside
1957 front 3/4
1958 Fargo Sweptside
Being Chrysler they just slapped some 2 door station wagon rear sides onto the normal model, plus I suppose a better interior.
Aside from the box sides and color coordinated trim, the Cameo and Sweptside were standard trucks, not luxury trucks. They weren’t more plush or comfortable than the regular upgraded interior.
There was a GMC version of the Cameo called the Suburban Carrier. The Suburban Carrier, Cameo, and Sweptside were all very much ‘luxury’ pickups, plenty of chrome and the most deluxe interiors available. That usually meant armrests AND sunvisors on both sides!
Very nice photoshops!
These weren’t any more luxurious than the regular uplevel interior that was available in the normal truck line. The only actual difference was the bedside and the exterior trim.
Gotta give a shoutout to IH’s 1957 “Golden Anniversary” A-100, with custom bedsides on the 7′ short bed:
These are some very clever ideas and fun to speculate about now, but in the 50’s they would have bombed. The idea of a luxury truck was just too far out for the times. Trucks back then were work vehicles, nothing more.
I’m not a truck guy either but that Lincoln-ized pickup really has the charm!
Actually, Buick division built 1 pickup truck back about 1939-40, IIRC. There was a full write-up about it in the magazine CLASSIC TRUCK (I think that’s the name of the magazine). That pickup was built by and for Buick engineering for use at the GM testing grounds, I guess because they wanted something better than a Chevy or GMC truck. I wish I still had the magazine so I could provide more details. One of the few times I discarded a car magazine after reading it.
Oh, I know the vehicle you are referring to – it’s a 1940 Buick, and there was an article featuring the restoration of it in the December 2013 issue of Auto Restorer magazine.
Here’s a great web article on that truck:
http://autoroundup.com/index.php/mysterious-saga-of-1940-buick-pickup-truck/
Interesting exercise in fantasy, but that “Nash” has a Studebaker greenhouse. Corrected myself on the grille, forgot about the ’57s!
… that “Nash” has a Studebaker greenhouse.
Yes, I recognized the Studebaker Champ as well, including the box made from the dies Studebaker bought second hand from Dodge.
A guy on Long Island apparently thinks the Sweptside should have been extended to the DeSoto. It is a hemi, but he hasn’t gotten around to the tailgate, or the front end yet.
That of course is with the sedan rather than station wagon fenders. If you wanted to turn it into any station wagon style model (forward canted fins) the Chrysler or Desoto or Plymouth station wagon tail lights would fit right in.
These are fantastic. The Cadillac front end a little too well on the Chevrolet truck, which goes to show that even back then there was not a lot of actual differentiation between Chevy and Cadillac.
GM liked for the Chevy to be a baby Cadillac. There was enough difference in size that no one would really confuse them for each other. In-between products had different styling to differentiate them.
Chuck Jordan designed the new Chevy truck for 1955; by 1957, he was the head of Cadillac design, although not the designer of the 57 Cad.
The actual 57 GMC truck has the same general styling as the photoshopped Cad truck in this article.
Took a look at the Gilmore’s new truck exhibit yesterday. They have a few examples of the coupe express concept on display. Not exactly luxury, but nicer that the average truck of the era.
I had hoped to see a truck like Paul’s, so he would then officially be driving a museum piece, but no such luck.
And the aforementioned El Camino is represented.
Chevy utes go back to the 30s in Aussie, they continued the car based pickup until the recent closures.
That colour combo looks familiar…
Fun stuff. I am envious of the photo-chopping skills on display here.
Dodge had the first sport truck: the 1963 Custom Sport Special, powered by a fire-breathing Max Wedge.
I think the “Studard” (studebaker/packard) looks like it could have been there all along. Not so sure about the name I gave it, though.
Certainly isn’t an exotic sounding name!
David, these are wonderful; thanks for this creative handiwork. I can’t really pick one as a favorite, as they’re all terrific.
The Buick pickup looks remarkably like a FJ Holden ute, not a bad thing except the Holden is at the other end of the Sloan ladder.
Hudson trucks from the 30s. They were ahead of the trend. On my phone so no photos here but you can google Hudson pickup.
Can you imagine having a 57 Morroco and that 57 Chevillac pickup in your driveway ?
Great work. I’ll take a Buick cabover with a ’50 grille thanks.
I use RIBBET.com,but I’ll look into PAINT.net.
These are certainly fascinating images and its fun to speculate on what if, but back in the ’50s pickups were seen as strictly utilitarian vehicles, the only luxury pickups I saw were at the rod and customs shows back then. I don’t think the idea of the luxury (or a better equipped pickup) started around the mid to late sixties. Around 1966 or 67 I was visiting one of my uncles on his farm, apparently a friend of his had dropped by with a new ’67 Chevy( or a GMC, I forget which) pickup-what caught my eye was that it had air conditioning integrated into the dashboard; previously all a/c units I had seen in pickups had been the under dashboard units. It was also around this time I started seeing much more attractive interiors in trucks as well.
Was this the Pontiac version?
Looks great!
The cowl fit-up doesn’t show the level of craftsmanship that yours do.
haha
Armstrong Siddeley ‘Ute’ anyone?
We had these Zephyr pickups in Britain; for the UK a very luxurious pickup. Wonder if they made it Stateside?
No you didnt. Those utes were Australian built and only made it as far as I think New Zealand when exported, since then Vauhall 6 and Zephyr 6 utes have been privately imported into the UK and I think a couple of E series Velox convertibles.
About 500 Of the Zephyr pickups made it to Canada, and at the time, Canadians were warming up to Car-type luxuries in pickups especially in places like Ottawa, Montreal and Vancouver. Utilitarian though it was, it was the precursor for Canadian Coachwork firms like AHA to do luxury appointments on Dodge, Toyota, Leyland Canada, and Studebaker trucks. Imagine a Toyota Stout with luxury appointments only seen on a Crown sedan. It’d cause a sensation on the roads and motorways of the Great White North!
Never seen one of those Zephyr pickups. Very neat. I have seen quite a few earlier Austin A40 trucks which are apparently very rare but sometimes British models tended to fall into geographic regions.
A40 factory pickups arent rare yet in NZ, A70 Hereford pickups are very thin on the ground A55/60 pickups and vans have nearly all disappeared they got worked untill they died
Nash trucks did actually exist.
The 1969 Scout was blueprint for the Range Rover.
No it wasn’t. If anything, it was the Jeep Wagoneer that showed Rover the way, but not even that vehicle was the blueprint.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-european/curbside-classic-1977-range-rover-success-at-face-value/
Some of those crazy two and three tones… they didn’t know just quite where to split the paint.
Thanks to SIAM Di Tella, Argentina got a pick-up version of BMC’s luxury/’sporty’ Riley 4/72 Farina (shame it didn’t use the Riley rear lights, though).
http://hooniverse.com/2010/04/27/%C2%A1viva-argentina-siam-di-tella-argenta-is-the-riley-pick-up-that-never-was/
I lost the picture but a few years ago there was some kind of contest for a truck or wagon concept. I (in a very primitive way, using a scissors and a copier) “photoshopped” a ’51 Hudson grille onto a Dodge Magnum wagon. I put logos on the side: Fabulous HUDSON NEW HORNET like a new version of Fonty Flock’s cars. I always thought the Magnum wagon was a modern incarnation of the Hornet body. Since Chrysler owns the Hudson name, they could have badge engineered this one for petty cash. Could have showed it at auto shows and would cost so little and get some buzz.
There was at least an attempt of selling a Studebaker truck badged as Packard in Argentina. I found some pictures and even an advert, but I’m unsure about it they were actually built or not, and if they existed, whether they were imported or built in Argentina (as the ad claims). Even if these Packard pickup trucks were really produced, they must have been an extremely limited run.
More pictures (and what I understood so far):
http://ripituc.blogspot.it/2017/06/these-were-seemingly-last-packard.html
The biggest problem with those old trucks is that the cabin is very small. There’s no storage space behind the seat and the driver must sit bolt upright. I’ve seen a couple of custom built, extended cab versions of Chevy AD and mid Fifties trucks in magazines like Classic Trucks. However these versions look really cool. I’d like to have the black and red truck with the ’48 Lincoln front end. Thanks for posting these.
The Packard looks really nice. The 1951-54 grille, which I don’t think was really that succesful on the cars, looks really good on this truck.
Aussie factory built with a double skin floor pan for strength they used a mixture of pressings but tough as nails, Everything the Falcon ute wasnt,
MK3 Zephyr utes were made in NZ by a dealership Hutchinson motors, one for every Ford dealership 157 only.
Better than AI!
Argentine Packard pickups
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/automotive-histories/curbside-capsule-1958-argentine-export-packard-pickup-truck-the-last-packard-badged-vehicle/#more-402478
It’s absurd really, but I really do like that cabover Buick. Not that I really want one, but I do like the looks of it.
Back in the late 70s, near where I’m now living, there was an auto repair shop with I think it was 3, ~1953 Cadillac tow trucks and a 4th that was a service vehicle. They were absolute tanks back in that era, so there was some logic to the project, although it obviously was mostly a labor of love. But they were so cool. I’m sure there’s pics out on the ‘net, but I can’t find them, and as broke as I was at the time I wasn’t spending any of my Kodak Instamatic pictures on them.
All black and shinny, they looked great.
Hope this attached properly. My fave tasty pickup is a 47 Hudson…